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Marsilion
Marsilion is a coastal city, the southernmost city of Infinitas, with a population of approximately 9000 to 10000 (with approx. 1000 transients in the summer months) with 14000 more individuals located in it's metro area. A popular tourism target due to it's warmer coastal waters, it's also notable for being home to roughly half the island's inshore fishing fleet, and produces 29% of the island's total food supply. Being a site of curiously higher migrant activity, many a newcomer finds themselves in Marsilion upon first entry, and to this end it has three extraimmigrant welcome centers. Other notable buildings include the island's largest medical facility, Marsilion General Hospital, and the First Infinitas War Memorial located in the eastern sector. Geography Marsilion is located on the southern half of the isle and it's lake waters are surprisingly warm and tropical, leading to large amounts of plentiful fishing banks. Located in a relatively flat area that is ideal for farming, Marsilion's outlying communities and villages stretch out over tens of kilometers, scattered over the map, almost all of them agrarian. Soil fertility is high for the most part and managed carefully after the depletion of the areas nearest the city. Government and Society Since the events of the Second Infinitas War, Marsilion has had a democratic government. The relatively young new government has put a large amount of formerly held away money into the improvement of the town's infrastructure and the establishment of it's new armed forces, leading to advances in homegrown industry since the days of the Trade Union. The new government also has greater centralization, it's armed forces providing a much greater deal of activity and protection to the metro area, strengthening bonds with numerous poorer villages. At present, the ruling party is the Tallow Party, with Mayor Harold Vaughn. Architecture and Infrastructure Building structure is usually wooden and limited to three stories for the most part in residential sectors, although some cottage industries reach five or more. For some structures steel is used as interior structure reinforcement, but wood remains the primary due to it's availability. Most wooden houses are half-timbered and are reminiscent of medieval and renaissance architecture. Steel and glass buildings do exist but are a rare sight. A growing electrical grid, maintained by a utilities commission, exists. Power is proviced by the Marsillion Municipal Power Plant, and brought to the city by high voltage wires, where it is stepped down and distributed to consumers. The central powerplant was only recently added, So many buildings lack electrical wiring. However, newer homes are being built with it, and services exist to retrofit older homes with electrical wiring that complies with local ordinances. Running water is available in some areas from a municipal source. Water Towers have begun to be erected to provide pressure for residential and commercial neighborhoods. Many older households have a raincatcher on the roof with gravity-fed pipes. Water heaters are rare - some bathtubs are actually heated by charcoal underneath them. But with the improving infrastructure, it's becoming viable to install water heaters and central air. Sanitation is provided via toilets that pump waste into storage tanks so it can decay, and be used to make small amounts of saltpeter. The rare septic tank system is available for the rich. Some of the poorer areas deliver their waste manually to designated collection zones for burial. There is an extant storm sewer system, however if households wish to dump waste into it, it must meet sanitation requirements. Some magic users have created "purify water" pipes which automagically cleanse the output to acceptable levels, allowing the water to flow back into the river or lake by way of the storm sewers. Natural Gas is plentiful and used for heating and lighting, but with the electric grid becoming prominent, it's mostly being pushed into the realm of heating. There are several local radio stations, and radios - older types especially - are the most common electronic device, usually being found in people's homes. Portable radios or music players are a luxury. Occasionally independant broadcasts can be picked up. There are no TV stations, although TVs can be found scattered throughout the city, usually playing VHS tapes. Cellular and internet coverage exists within the city. Cell coverage is provided by a small network of scattered towers. Most people will need to bring their phones into a tech cafe or electronics shop to get it adapted for local infrastructure. Local internet connects to tech cafes, libraries, banks, and educational institutions in Marsilion, Porton, and Arcford. Games, information, and social media are some of the sites available. Roads are generally cobblestone on main areas, dirt in others and in alleyways. Speaking of which, to facilitate pedestrian travel, alleyways are extremely common, winding their way through almost every residential area, often the few bits of space that a poorer household has to it's name. Several miles worth of central roads have been paved with cement to facilitate easier travel. The cobblestone roads typically follow roman designs, ensuring good drainage into the storm sewer system. There is a railroad that reaches between Marsilion and Arcford, with an additional line being built towards Porton. Currently 3 passenger trains a day run both ways between the two, and cargo ones as needed. After a couple incidents of trains being attacked, there has been stepped up security along the rail line, with the town of Corona being a major stopping point between the two. Culture Local culture is a melting pot, even moreso than the rest of the island. The diversity occasionally causes tension, but for the most part the mixed cultural heritages contribute richly to local entertainment, with regular gatherings being held to experience music, dance and comedy from other worlds. To this end there are a number of smaller squares along with the larger town square in Marsilion, and most bars or taverns usually have a stage and a night designated for cultural sharing. In the higher echelons, Marsilion has a very plutocratic system that has only recently been changing, and almost anything can be had if one can scrape together the funds. The bourgeoise class and the nobles are one in the same - wealth buys you social power. The introduction of elections under the Democratic Government of Marsilion have been the first example of a change to this system in a long while, and it's not universally popular among the upper class. Everyday Life Your everyday, average, middle class citizen in Marsilion enjoys very different comforts from an average person in our world, even if the basic necessities are there. Bathtubs are wooden or clay basins with a (firewalled!) stove underneath them. Many lights are natural gas lamps, magical light crystals, or a grwoing number of incandescent light bulbs. Electricity is developing and many places have yet to be fitted with wiring. Candles are made of tallow, not wax, as is soap. The diet of the average Marsilion citizen includes more meat than people had historically, but still only in small portions, as it's expensive. Alcohol selection is limited. With the development of the power plant and growth of infrasturcture, one might be able to compare life to the early 1900-1920s in the developed world, once the infrastructure in the given neighborhood has been built. All of these things can be surpassed - if you have money. History Marsilion is one of the cities that claims to be the site of the First Founding. Evidence for this is scanty - the town's origins are not well known. From what can be gleaned by interviews with the island's older population, record-keeping was disorganized - there almost definitely was a series of semi-permanent villages in Marsilion's area at some point, but the exact date of founding is something lost to history. Those that do not subscribe to the theory of Marsilion being the area of First Founding suggest that it was a settlement established by populations moving from the area of Arcford to seek clearer and more open farming land. Porton was likely established through this same movement as a disparate settlement. By the time things had settled down, around the time of the First Infinitas War, Marsilion had depleted much of the soil immediately around itself and had begun laying down a network of roads to farmland that was laying further and further afield, which led to the formations of villages in it's metro area, some of which were migratory, coming back to Marsilion each winter rather than establishing a permanent position. While the city's status as a fishing giant has never been challenged, the soil immediately around the town is of too poor quality to grow much, although some farms are still occasionally worked after having lain fallow for a while. Marsilion was an active participant in the First Infinitas War, serving host to one of the Great Powers, the Southern League, together with Porton, it's sister city. It established numerous small forts in the Badlands. Construction of a stone wall started but was never completed. The Southern League, thanks to the food supply available, had superior manpower, but poor equipment, often reusing rifles or assigning one man with a firearm and another with ammunition. After the Succession War, power passed into the hands of the Trade Union, a collection of merchant lords who had seized power over both Marsilion and Porton. The Trade Union rule lasted the next forty-five years, being dominated by a period of high food taxes, high productivity and export, and the startup and lease of thousands of new businesses that were choked for tax money. Each Politiker or Trade Lord was granted a small sector of the city to rule over, and each squeezed their own areas dry. Despite this economic exploitation and high tax rate, the city remained peaceful, aside from one minor shadow that was to cast doubt: The August Rebellion. While the Trade Union was originally seen as somewhat seperate from the common man's affairs, the events of the Second Infinitas War shook this belief to the core, especially after the Sola Incident. Saber's rise soon started, the group having been founded for the express purpose of guarding the interests of the common person, even as civil unrest was quelled, often violently, by bands of Trade Union mercenaries. With the events of Liberation Day, as it is now called, the Trade Union was decapitated and control wrested from Marsilion peacemeal by a large number of militiamen, private groups and armed citizenry. A new government, the Democratic Government of Marsilion, was created in the aftermath, and despite a turbulent series of elections, elected a ruling party, the Tallow Party, and continued the war as their own side. Government and Law Emergency services are filled by the Marsilion Guard, a paramilitary organization that serves as coast guard, police, fire, and to a limited extent paramedics. Education There is no public school system in Marsilion, but there are a number of private daycares, some private schools, and many willing tutors. For higher Education, one would have better luck in Arcford, which has it's own university. More recently, a school has been set up in the high-tech enclave of Corona, which offers education to people from all over the island. It caters to children roughly aged 3-19 years old, and offers services such as "age matching" to allow students in all grades to be the same age. Post-secondary education is still only really offered in Arcford. Economy Marsilion's economy is traditionally focused around grain, fruit, and dairy farming, with a heavy agrarian population, and a secondary focus on fishery. While industry does exist, most industry is located in the nearby cities of Porton and Arcford, and Marsilion is dependent on trade for outside goods for the most part, as well as it's numerous small cottage industries located within town and in the fields. As of the Second Infinitas War, the industry in the city is slowly modernizing and growing in capacity thanks to the war effort, making jobs easy to be had. After the establishment of the electric grid and the effort to colonize the mainland, Marsilion's had a swiftly growing manufacturing sector. With electricity, high quality metal foundry's have been established, and previously unusable materials like aluminum have started to become reasonably commonplace. Thanks to the efforts of the Generalist's Guild, Marsilion's also established itself as a good place for magic users who don't wish to be part of the northern magocracy to set up shop, leading to a growing magical goods sector. The currency of Marsilion is the Florin, and it shares this with Porton and now Arcford. Coins, like in all other cities on the isle, exist in both stamped and unstamped varieties. The base unit of currency, the florin, can be assumed to be worth about 50 USD, and is a small gold stamped coin. Lesser denominations exist, in the Centiflorin (50 cents), Milliflorin (5 cents), deciflorin (5 USD,) and so on. Banks exist in Marsilion, and they are usually controlled by banking families, most of which have a heavy Trade Union presence or are even owned and operated by Politiker lords themselves, those that were not removed or arrested during the events of the Second Infinitas War. There are four banks in total, two of which are considered "major": The Harmad Trust, controlled by the Harmad family, and the Southern Infinitas Bank or SIB, controlled by the Trade Union. Category:Setting Info Category:Settlements